Star Trek - Strategic Operations Simulator
Platform: TI-99/4A
Region: USA
Media: Cartridge
Controller: Joystick
Genre: Arcade - Action - Sci-Fi
Gametype: Licensed
Release Year: 1983
Developer: SEGA Enterprises Ltd.
Publisher: Texas Instruments
Players: 1
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Star Trek: Strategic Operations Simulator is an arcade action game where you take control of the Starship Enterprise. Your mission is to save the Federation from NOMAD! Before you get a chance at destroying NOMAD, you'll have to battle your way through ten levels (each consisting of multiple rounds). In each round you may encounter Klingon fighters, deadly anti-matter saucers, asteroid fields, and deadly meteors, all of which are capable of depleting the Enterprises energy. The game ends when your energy supply has completely run out. To fight these dangers, the Enterprise is equipped with an unlimited supply of phasers and a limited supply of photon torpedoes. Each round also contains one or more starbases; if you dock at a starbase, some of your supplies (such as energy and torpedoes) will be replenished. The game is played from two points of view; the top of the screen contains a third person view of the Enterprise (along with the ships gauges), and on the bottom of the screen is a first person point of view

Trivia:

The TI-99/4A version takes advantage of the platform's speech synthesizer accessory, providing audible announcements of progress and game events.

The Manual for Star Trek, that was released by Texas Instruments, actually has the picture flipped around. If you look at it, the laser beam being shot at the USS Enterprise is coming from the right hand side of the manual, in all other versions of the game it comes from the left (such as in the Atari 5200 version). If one looks more closely at the manual, you will be able to see that it is not just the laser coming from the opposite side, but the entire picture that is flipped around! As to why this happened, I don't know. Maybe TI thought the picture looked better this way? It is interesting to note that the TI-99/4A 2Q/1983 3rd Party Sega version of this game has a manual with the picture in the correct position, so it was obviously something TI altered for their release of the game which came out a few months later.

Secret Code Alert!  If you press the buttons "* # *" (in that sequence) on the title screen, it will take you to a cheat mode where you will have an infinite amount of Shield Power, Photons, and Warp Drive. One drawback, however, is that all the enemies will be shooting and flying at top speed from the beginning of the game. This shouldn't be too much of a problem though, since you cannot be killed or run out of ammunition!


http://www.mobygames.com/game/ti-994a/star-trek-strategic-operations-simulator
